And today, for around 5 minutes while I was downloading a Windows Update security patch, these local computer names all worked again, but as quickly as the problem solved itself, it came back again.

I use a proxy server at work and I have 'bypass proxy server for local addresses' checked. At home I have a DSL direct internet connection and I experience the same problem (it's a laptop which I use in both locations). I'm running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1. I've tried resetting all my Internet Explorer settings, and I've tried reinstalling Internet Explorer - neither worked. It's as if Internet Explorer is recognising local computer names and deliberately choosing not to read them unless they are part of a URL which points to a specific file, not just the homepage of a web server or to a folder on that server. It's driving me mad and I would be extremely grateful for a solution, hence the points...

That sounds like the 'auto search' feature is turned on. The fact that a specific 'page' (index.html) works but a folder url will not says the browser is accessing the search feature instead of polling the actual site.
In IE: Go to "Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Search from the address bar" and select "Do not search from the address bar"
Then close and reopen IE and try again.

Nah, that wasn't it but thanks all the same. I did acutally look at that as being the problem but to no avail, it turned out to be a nasty peice of software I had picked up on my travels which was interfering with things.

I annotated my article on ransomware somewhat extensively, but I keep adding new references and wanted to put a link to the reference library. Despite all the reference tools I have on hand, it was not easy to find a way to do this easily. I finall…

How to create a custom search shortcut to site-search Experts Exchange using Google in the Firefox browser. This eliminates the need to type out site:experts-exchange.com whenever you want to search the site.
Launch your Bookmark Menu: Press 'Ctrl +…